Social networking site Facebook is to build its first data centre outside the United States in the northern Swedish town of Lulea, awarding an initial construction contract of US$ 121 million, reported Reuters. The data centre, set to be the largest of its kind in Europe, will take advantage of the climate in Lulea, among the coldest in Sweden, to cool tens of thousands of servers. Swedish construction group NCC said it was part of a joint venture with two U.S. companies, DPR Construction and Fortis Construction, which had won a contract of US$ 121 million for the first of three server buildings in the data centre. The data centre will be the northern most of its size on Earth. It is Facebook's first in Europe and will serve more than 800 million site users. Facebook said in a statement it chose Lulea, despite its remoteness some 1000 kilometers north of Swedish capital Stockholm, because its cold climate would be good for cooling and that it could provide environmentally friendly hydro-power. The three server buildings will have an area of 28,000 square meters each. Construction takes place in three phases and begins instantly. The first building is to be operational within a year and the entire facility is scheduled for completion by 2014.

Qatar is set to spend up to US$ 150 billion on infrastructure projects over the next 5-6 years as it starts preparing for the 2022 World Cup, reported Arabian Business. Yousef Hussein Kamal, Minister of Economy and Finance, also said spending on the oil and gas sector would reach US$ 40 billion in the same period. The Qatari government has reportedly allocated a whopping 40 percent of its budget between now and 2016 to infrastructure projects, including US$ 11 billion on a new international airport, US$ 5.5 billion on a deepwater seaport and US$ 1 billion for a transport corridor in the capital, Doha. It will spend US$ 20 billion on roads while stadium construction for the World Cup should cost just under US$ 4 billion, with the first venue to be built by 2015. According to German legal and financial adviser Dr Nicola Ritter, US$ 48 billion will be spent to build air-conditioned stadia, US$ 77 billion will be spent on facilities for soccer fans and players from all over the world and US$ 45 billion will be allocated for developing Lusail City. Qatar has also allocated US$ 50 billion to upgrade its transport infrastructure, including new rail and metro systems.

As reported Arabianbusiness, according to the latest data published by STR Global, a total of 119 hotels are predicted to be built in the Middle East/ Africa region this year. Year-to-date, 50 hotels have opened in the region supplying a further 9,663 rooms with another 69 hotels (15,420 rooms) in the pipeline for completion before the end of 2011, STR Global said. During 2012, 131 hotels are planned to open with 36,205 rooms, it added. Among the hotel sectors, the upper upscale will be boosted by 3,733 rooms and 15 projects this year and the luxury segment by 3,052 rooms and 13 projects. STR Global said in 2012, the most rooms are planned to open in the luxury segment (11,123 rooms and 34 projects) and the upper upscale category (10,198 rooms and 31 projects).

Today in Eastern Turkey at 15:41 Yerevan time, about 19 km away from city Van a major earthquake struck Van Province. Many buildings collapsed in central Van, in the village of Tabanli and in other neighboring territories. The U.S. Geological Survey reported the quake had a magnitude of 7.2 and depth of 20 kilometers, though Turkey's National Earthquake Monitoring Center reported a magnitude of 6.6 and depth of 5.0 kilometers. The magnitude of this quake is more than 1988 Spitak earthquake's. In Yerevan (192km away), the earthquake force residents to live their homes from high rise buildings.

As news.am reported, Head of Government-Affiliated State Property Management Department Arman Sahakyan stated, that "Dvin" and "Sevan" Hotels Construction to be completed. During press-conference Arman Sahakyan said, "Dvin" hotel will be reconstructed by 2014, or even earlier. And the basis for this optimism is the new commitments which the Hotel's proprietor has assumed. According to these obligations, if the proprietor does not carry out the investments specified in the contract, it will have to pay ten percent from the sum of unfulfilled investments, as a penalty. "Dvin" hotel was sold in 2003 to Caucasian Communication Group for US$ 3 million. The buyer had pledged to build a 5-star hotel in five years and to invest US$ 30 million; but no essential investment is made so far. And finally, if Dvin Hotel is not reconstructed, the Government of Armenia reserves the right to take its possession by court order, after 2014. During press-conference Arman Sahakyan also hoped, that reconstruction of "Sevan" hotel will reach its logical end. The hotel was sold in 1996 to "Carousel Establishment Company", which belongs to British-Armenian businessman Vache Manukian. Even though the buyer was obliged to rebuild the hotel in five years, it remains in dilapidated condition. During his visit to Yerevan in late September, Vache Manukian discussed the hotel's fate with Yerevan's mayor, Karen Karapetyan. Apparently, Manukian does not want to build a hotel, but rather a cultural or a business center. However, he has not reached a final agreement with municipal authorities so far.